The importance of maintaining scuba (xe2x80x9cself-contained underwater breathing apparatusxe2x80x9d) equipment dry and free of corrosive elements such as salt water is well known, and is described in some detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,000 to Feast et al., entitled Wetsuit Washing and Drying Assembly and Method. Because such equipment is normally used underwater, commonly at depths from which one could not successfully surface in the event of major equipment failure, divers recognize and appreciate the necessity of cleaning or rinsing their equipment after use, and storing it in a dry environment until the next use. However, the task of rinsing and drying typical scuba equipment before storage can be formidable and time consuming. Such typical equipment may include such items as a wet suit, a skin suit, a hood, a buoyancy control device, fins, boots, gloves, a regulator, a computer and gauges, a mask, a snorkel, weight pockets or a weight belt, and accessories such as a dive light, net, and the like. Accordingly, a number of devices have been developed to assist in the completion of this task. The majority of such devices are intended only to rinse a wet suit. Typical among these are hanger-style devices such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,487 to Santos, (Spray Hanger for Wet Suit); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,624 to Darling, (Wetsuit Washer). These devices support a wet suit on a hanger-like frame, and provide a water spray or jet both internally and externally to the suit, using a hose connection from the hanger to an external water supply. However, these devices are designed solely for the rinsing and drying of wet suits, and do not provide means for the rinsing, drying, storing or transporting of other scuba apparatus. Moreover, other than providing a spray of water from various nozzles located on the support frame, these devices are passive in operation and have no means for oscillating or varying the spray to reach areas of the wet suit not directly subject to a spray or drainage rivulet. As a result, while wetted areas that directly receive a spray, and water drainage areas immediately below wetted areas, subject to the rinsing action of flowing water, other areas not directly subject to the spray, and other non-drainage areas, may experience no rinsing at all. Small wrinkles, nooks, or crannies in the wet suit may escape the rinsing action, and may even capture sand, salt, or debris that is not dissolved or carried away by the action of flowing water.
Other devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,394 to Timmes et al., provide a frame for holding other scuba equipment. The frame, however, supports scuba equipment only upon horizontal or nearly horizontal racks, or suspended from xe2x80x9cclipsxe2x80x9d attached to horizontal racks, and does not provide any hanger-like structure from which a wet suit or skin may be vertically suspended. Although the Timmes frame does spray water downwardly from nozzles located at various points on and above the frame, it does not disclose any upward spraying water outlets for spraying inside an inverted, self-draining piece of equipment such as a boot or glove.
What is needed is a frame to hold scuba equipment, including hanger-like structures for vertically suspending a wet suit and skin suit, that completely rinses such equipment externally and, where appropriate, internally, and supports such equipment while drying, and during periods of storage.
It is an object of this invention to provide a frame having upper hanger-type structures for vertically suspending wet suits and skin suits, a mechanical water diverting sprinkler head for increasing the interior and exterior surfaces of a wet suit or skin suit subject to direct rinsing action, a lower portion having upwardly pointing nozzles for rinsing the interior of gloves and boots, a valve for introducing rinsing water into the air bladder of a buoyancy control device (xe2x80x9cBCDxe2x80x9d), a manual regulator to adjust for variances in water pressure from an external water source and to provide flexibility in adjusting water pressure between the upper and lower portions of the frame, a plurality of hooks and bars from which other equipment may be suspended, and a hand-held hose for convenience in assuring proper water coverage for all equipment suspended from the frame.